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Diggers find Atari's E.T. games in landfill

By Alex Quintana / Alamagordo Daily News

Posted:
04/27/2014 01:10:37 AM MDT

Zak Penn, left, proudly hold up a copy of Atari's E.T The Extraterrestrial found in a landfill in Alamogordo Saturday. Archaeologist Andrew Reinhard, right, holds the game's box and instructions. Penn is directing a film with the working title Atari: Game Over about Atari dumping possibly thousands of games and other failed items in the landfill. ( MARK LAMBIE—EL PASO TIMES)

ALAMOGORDO >> After 31 years of speculating, naysaying and news clipping, Atari's worst game in history, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," has finally been unearthed.

Slightly before 1 p.m. on a dusty day, video game archaeologists found the first "E.T." game as they sifted through years of trash at the old Alamogordo Landfill.

Zak Penn, film director for a documentary about the game and why Atari decided to bury its games, said, "E.T. is definitely here," as he presented the first game found at the site.

"We didn't come out here for nothing, and it wasn't a total waste of time — awesome," he said.

Fuel Entertainment, Xbox Entertainment Studios and Lightbox joined to make a documentary about the 1983 massive game burial of Atari games, said to be one of gaming culture's greatest urban legends.

Fuel Entertainment first began it search for the games in 2011, according to co-founder Mike Burns.

"It's a great moment in video game history," Burns said. "A lot of people don't look at video games as something historic. It's has been a long time since they've been around. This is a really great moment, a milestone flag we can plant in the dirt and say we have closed the door on an urban legend. We've shown some light on the history of Atari."

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He said it was rewarding to see all the hard work pay off.

The company began talking with Joe Lewandowski, of Operational Consultants, to find out if the legend was true.

Lewandowski said in 1983 he owned a garbage company and one of his drivers told him about the games.

He said he took a couple of copies of the games when they were first buried.

According to a Microsoft spokeswoman, about 300 spectators from across the country and Otero County showed up Saturday to find out the truth.

Three friends, Carlos Casas, Fernando Casas and Eric Leyva, traveled from Juárez to the site to see if they could catch a glimpse of the games.

"To be part of this is great, even if we don't have a chance to leave with a piece of the game, but being here is crazy," Leyva said.

Fernando Casas said one of the reasons they went to the site was because it was a nostalgic game and represented part of the video gaming crash.

Game creator Howard Scott Warshaw, who had five weeks to create the game for Atari, speculated that the E.T. games found looked like they could still be played.

"It is the fastest video game developed in video game history, as far as I know," Warshaw said.

He said before the games were found, he was excited to see that so much attention was being drawn to his game.

"Here is the way I look at it," Warshaw said. "It might be here; it might not be here. I don't know. Thirty-two years ago, I did a game that people called 'the worst game of all time' that toppled a billion dollar industry. Maybe it is true; maybe it is not. The fact is I did something 30 years ago that is still getting people gathered together, enjoying it, getting some excitement. So, the idea that I can be in the center of that kind of fun and excitement really makes me feel good."

After the games were dug up, Ryan Sharpe, who travelled from California in hope of getting a copy and selling it for charity, said he was glad to see it all came true.

"It's like the gaming Berlin Wall; it is more interesting in its failure than it was in its success," Sharpe said. "Owning a landfill cartridge will have more sentimental value than any original store-bought one."

According to Penn, the excavation crew also found vintage Atari games "Centipede" and "Missile Command."

Penn said he was surprised to see so many games were still intact.

"There's a lot of people here who invested a lot in it. I mean all these people came out. I'm psyched that they actually got to see something. It's great," Penn said.

Larry Hyrb, of Microsoft's Xbox team who also is known as Major Nelson, said Microsoft's Xbox Entertainment Studios, based in Los Angeles, is working with Penn in supporting the documentary.

Daniel Schechter, a development executive for Fuel Entertainment, said: "This story was for the gaming community. It is not just a landfill story. It wasn't about an urban legend; it was about gaming history — where we were in the early 80s and where we are now."

Lewandowski began talking with Fuel Entertainment in 2011 and said he was relieved this day had come.

While the amount of truckloads of games dumped at the site by Atari still vary, previous Daily News reports have estimated it to be between 14 and 19 truckloads.

Lewandowski said he heard from the garbage company operating at the site during the time of the burial that the official number was nine truckloads. He smiled as he said he even heard there were originally supposed to be 29 truckloads and other myths about how the first truck was stolen and taken to Mexico.

While many gamers weren't able to leave with copies of the games, the city of Alamogordo will give Fuel Entertainment 250 games or 10 percent of what is found (whichever is the lesser) and plans to store and market the remainder of what is found at the landfill.